When Love Comes Around (Love Conquers All) (14 page)

Autumn was beside herself as she screamed bloody murder. Whether it was curiosity or good old-fashioned meanness, Ava wasn’t sure. All she knew was once she saw the scene in front of her she fell to the floor on her knees turning beet red from laughing so hard.

NJ dumped almost an entire container of baby powder all over his sister’s head, and was in the process of christening himself, as he vigorously shook the remaining powder coating his dark, thick, silky locks.

Poor Autumn kept slipping and falling on the hardwood floors coated in the powder as she hysterically attempted to make her way to Auntie Ava for shelter from her impish brother.

“What?”

“You know what.” Summer responded, still eying Ava suspiciously.

Attempting to appear dumbfounded, “Noooo, I don’t’ know,” Ava answered.

Nodding her head Summer insisted “Yeeees, you do, Ava.”

NJ and Autumn looked back and forth between Mommy and Auntie. Both were silent, as if their young minds tried to comprehend what was going on. Mommy looked a little upset. Auntie Ava looked as if she wanted to laugh.

Throwing up her hands in the air she huffed, “Come on Summer that was last year. I didn’t know NJ was gonna turn Autumn into Casper the Friendly Ghost.”

Crossing her arms across her chest, Summer pointed out, “And what about two months ago?”

Nervously, Ava shifted from foot to foot. She did have to bring up that little incident. See, this is the reason why she didn’t have any kids and didn’t want any. Spending a few hours with them and then giving them back to their momma was just about all she could handle. Unconsciously, she shrugged her shoulders. How was she to know that after watching
Finding Nemo
the little self-proclaimed abolitionists would free the expensive, colorful exotic fish from their daddy’s aquarium?

“You know Nick is still pissed about his fish,” Summer snapped. She had to put up with hearing him grumble and complain about his dead tropical fish for two weeks. Finally, she had to tell him, “Get over it! They’re only fish!”

Ava rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “I know… I know…I said I was sorry a hundred times already.” Did she have to hear how pissed Nick was every time this subject came up? She truly was sorry and grateful at the same time.

She was sorry the kids had gotten into the expensive aquarium. What was she supposed to do? She couldn’t hold her pee all night. After all, people did have a right to use the bathroom! She couldn’t help it if her godchildren were inquisitive.

Grateful Nick hadn’t taken her up on her offer to replace the two fish, which met their early demise, thanks to the itty-bitty freedom fighters. Why in the world would anyone pay two hundred dollars for one fish? Certainly not Ava. Sista, had bills to pay. Lucky for her, they hadn’t gotten to the other exotic fish in the tank, which were twice as expensive.“Summer, I got this. I promise.”

Taking her friend by the shoulders, she turned her in the direction of her destination. Gently giving her a nudge, she said, “You go find your dress. I won’t let my little guppies out of my sight.” For good measure, Ava crossed her heart and hoped to die.

Letting out a little chuckle, Summer stooped down to eye level with her babies. Giving a penetrating stare, she looked from one to the other. “NJ and Autumn, I want you to be good for Auntie Ava…okay.”

Bobbing their heads up and down, they promised to be good. “Okay Mommy.”

The penetrating,
you better behave yourselves or else,
stare was replaced by a genteel smile. “Good. Now give Mommy some kisses.”

Tiny arms encircled Summer’s neck as wet kisses landed on her cheeks before she went off on the search to find the perfect party dress.

Snuggly holding onto each tiny hand, Ava made her way through the throng of shoppers. Now that her little cherubs had full tummies, off to Build-A-Bear they went.

♥♥♥

Browsing the designer dresses, Summer felt as if someone was watching her. However, every time she’d look over her shoulder she didn’t see anyone. Hunching slender shoulders, she turned her attention back to finding the perfect dress.

Veronica Taylor slowly eased from behind the mannequin that concealed her thin frame. She couldn’t help herself. She had to get a better look at the petite woman her coworker Amy all but knocked her over to get to.

All the sales associates were aware of the women who came into the designer dress department dropping big bucks. Though Veronica had never seen this one before, it was obvious that she was a spender since Amy literally charged after her like a raging bull. It annoyed Veronica when she did that. For once, she would like to benefit from one of the extravagant shoppers. She too, could use a big, fat commission. The extra money would definitely come in handy since her daughter was now in high school. Like all fifteen-year- olds, Tanya wanted the latest fashions her classmates sported. Whenever Veronica offered to design something nice for her, Tanya’s response would be, “Mom, I don’t do homemade clothes.” Or “I’d rather go to the thrift store and get last year’s labels.” Remarks like those cut deep. How could she tell her daughter if she hadn’t been deceitful and greedy she could have potentially been a top designer?

As annoyed as she was with Amy, she was glad this one time she hadn’t been aggressive, approaching the customer, and taking the young associate’s sale. She stood glued to the floor as Amy greeted the woman. “Hi, Mrs. Stiles, how are you today?”

Mrs. Stiles. It can’t be. She looks so young…so beautiful.
Veronica thought as she wondered if the petite woman was Nick’s wife. She had heard that after all these years he had settled down and married.

As she eyed the beautiful woman, Veronica’s stomach began to churn. If only she had played her cards right it would be her shopping at Nordstrom’s, instead of working here as a part-time, weekend sales associate. She should have kept her big mouth closed and not brag to her ex-boyfriend at the time she was pregnant. Telling him she was pregnant with Nick’s baby had backfired. It hadn’t taken long for him to calculate that he may be the father of her baby after their one night of sex.

Veronica had been angry with Nick because he had canceled on her again. And to make matters worse, he was neglecting her in the bedroom. Business meetings and late nights at the office had consumed him. Weeks had gone by since they had been intimate. Feeling neglected, out of spite, Veronica agreed to have dinner with her ex. Several drinks later, accompanied by bad judgment, she ended up in bed with her former lover.

Not once did she feel any regret or remorse. In her heart, at the time she felt justified by her actions. It was only a one-time thing, which would never happen again, is what she told herself.

Her ex, however, felt differently. Losing her once to Nick was enough. Accepting his offer to dinner and then making love to him was all the encouragement he needed.

Everything blew up in her face when the former lover kept stopping by her place of business and incessantly calling her on the phone. She wanted him out of her life. She had everything going for her. She was pregnant with her wealthy boyfriend’s baby and he had just given her a sizable amount of money to open her first boutique. He was even offering marriage and the house with the white picket fence. Becoming frustrated with her ex’s advances she blurted out, “You need to stay away from me. I’m pregnant with Nick’s baby.” She even went as far as to boast, “And even if this baby isn’t his, he’ll never know it.”

Her blabbing was the beginning of the end for her. The bottom fell out when the ex-lover went to Nick telling him everything and demanding a paternity test. Not only had he revealed the one-night-stand, he told Nick how she had confessed that once she got her business up and running, she had planned on ending the relationship. He enjoyed adding more salt to the wound as he went on to tell Nick how Veronica only stuck around for the right opportunity to hit him up for the money she needed to open her boutique. Her pregnancy had been that golden opportunity.

The joyful, squealing of a small child brought Veronica out of her miserable musing.

“Mommy, Mommy…Daddy’s here, Daddy’s here!”

Veronica further concealed herself, as she watched a little boy no more than four years old enthusiastically run to the woman, hugging her around the legs. Her heart pounded in her chest. The child was a carbon copy of the man from her past.

The little boy was eager to tell the woman, “Him has Autumn. She sleepy.”

The petite woman giggled as she threaded her fingers through the child’s dark, curly locks gently correcting his grammar. “NJ, it’s ‘Daddy has Autumn and she’s sleepy.”

The child formed his mouth in a perfect circle as he said, “Oh.”

Not far behind the boy were two attractive women making their way to the woman and child. The pretty cocoa colored one with the short sassy cut gave her friend a kiss on the cheek before hugging her. As this was taking place, the fair-skinned one playfully yanked the toddler from his mother’s legs and began tickling him.

Ugly envy coursed through Veronica as she watched the three women laughing as
Mrs. Stiles
continued her search for that special dress. The way she took dress after dress off the rack made Veronica sick. The woman didn’t even bother to check the price tag.

“Which one do you think Daddy will like?” She heard Summer ask her son. The little boy pointed to the Nicole Miller dress she held up in her left hand. “This one?”

Bobbing his head up and down, the child said, “Uh-huh.” Leaning down, she kissed the toddler Eskimo style. “Thank you, little man.” Wrinkling up his nose the little adorable boy giggled. “You welcome, Mommy.”

Turning to the sales associate, Summer smiled. “I’ll try these two on, Amy.”

Grinning from ear to ear, the young associate beamed. She would make a nice commission. The Nicole Miller and Just Cavalli dresses each were over six hundred dollars. “Okay, Mrs. Stiles, right this way.”

Uh-oh.
Veronica swallowed hard as the fair-skinned woman with shoulder length dark hair made her way behind the mannequin.

“Hi, do you work here?”

“Yes.” Veronica replied nervously, mentally kicking herself for being nosy. After all these years, she needed to get over it. It was her own fault things hadn’t worked out between her and Nick. “Can I help you with something?” Hopefully she’ll want to buy a dress too and not question her as to why she was snooping behind a mannequin.

“Yeah, are you hiring?”

An uneasy expression crossed Veronica’s features. Was this woman trying to be funny? If she was a friend of Nick’s wife, she most likely did not need a job as a sales associate.

“I’m not sure…why do you ask?”

“My cousin needs a part-time job, she’s in college. Could use the extra money. Know what I mean?”

Veronica sighed. She wasn’t trying to be funny after all. Just as she was about to respond to Ava’s explanation, Veronica sucked in a gasp of air.

Immediately Ava swung around to see what had elicited such a reaction. That’s when she noticed Kevin and Nick entering the dress department. Turning her attention back to the sales associate, she watched as the woman eyes followed Nick. He was carrying Autumn as she slept in his arms. His point of destination being Summer as he spotted her coming out of the dressing room.

The woman sucked in another breath of air as Nick stood before Summer towering over her. Briefly, they gazed lovingly at one another before he leaned down and kissed her. Ava’s eyes traveled to the nametag on the woman’s chest.
Veronica T.
“Oh snap,” she muttered. Veronica wanted to faint right there on the spot. The woman she was talking to knew who she was. Knew all about her history with Nick. She had assumed correctly. The young woman was Nick’s wife. And the adorable little boy and sleeping girl were his children.

All eyes turned on her when Amy yelled, “Veronica, Mrs. Klein would like for you to bring her a size ten. She said you would know which dress she was talking about.”

With as much dignity and courage as she could muster, Veronica quickly moved to the rack and removed the size ten dress.

She could feel everyone’s gaze on her as she made her way past the small group on her way into the dressing room.

“Is that Veronica?” She heard Summer ask Nick.

“Yeah…that’s her.” He answered his tone frigid.

“Nick, baby…don’t be like that.” The woman looked as if she’d seen better days. She appeared really tired, weary, and beaten up by life. Which was a shame because if one looked at her closely one would see that she had once been a beautiful woman.